Tuesday, August 13, 2019

January 2019

January 2019
PA, DE, MD, VA, NJ, FL, Haiti

1- TU- PA- OMG, I watched the PSU Citrus Bowl game and it was painful.  We should have won but we didn't show up to play until the 4th quarter and we ran out of time.  Damn, damn, damn.

2- W- PA- Dinner with Sue and Tom Descano and Kevin Williams and his German friend, Elke.


3- TH- lunch at Roots with Shelia and Elke.  And it was an historical day in Congress. One hundred women were sworn in to Congress.

4- F- PA- drove all the way to the Montgomery Mall to shop at Uniglo and I didn't find anything I really wanted to buy.

5- SA- it's a rainy day which is a perfect day to go to the movies.  I went with Phylis to see Bohemian Rhapsody which I have already seen.  I loved it last month and I loved it again this time as well.

6- SU- PA- went with Sharon to see On The Basis of Sex, the new Ruth Ginsberg movie and I loved it, of course.

7- M- VA- I took a road trip to Chinoteague but it took me all damn day to get there because I made a detour and went to Bombay Hook and then to Asseteague Island.

8- TU- MD- spent the day in Chicoteague and Assateague, looking for wild horse.  I stopped in the Barrel Oak Brewery for a quick flight of beer. And then I met up with Betty Ulrich for dinner in Elkton, MD.

9- W- PA- I had plans to run errands but I parked myself in the lounge and spent the better part of the afternoon, chatting up John and Debbie.  And then we wandered over to Bar Avalon for mussels. It was a pleasant way to spend the day.

10- TH- PA- I went to Valley Forge National Park to take photos. It was cold and windy and not much to photograph. I got my first statement about my investment portfolio.  I am down -4.2% due to the poor performance of the stock market. OUCH!!!!

11- F- I had another day of hanging in the apartment lounge with neighbors.  It's easy to park myself on a chair and drink coffee, gossip and laugh.

12- SA- I'm waiting on a blizzard.  We are supposed to get lots of snow tonight and I wouldn't mind being snowed in for a day.

13- SU- the whole day centered around the Eagles football game. It was great fun to watch in spite of the dreadful loss.  And I am a little thankful to be done with football for the year.

14- M- PA- I drove to Middle Creek Wildlife Reservoir in search of the last of the snow geese migration but I had no luck in finding them.  So I stopped in to a local brewery, Pour Man's Brewing Company and enjoyed a delicious flight of IPAs and stouts. I also made a stop at Gabe's Department store and found a demin jacket for only $8.  This bargain made my day.

15- TU- PA- I spent the afternoon in the lounge, chatting with Gina and then with Steve and Phyliss.  As the afternoon became evening, Debbie and Dom showed up and we talked until 10 PM.  Another day slipped away and I didn't do much. And I am OK with that.

16- W- PA- I found another Gabe's store and went in search of another denim jacket.  I wonder when I will have enough of these jackets.  Then it was off to Bar Avalon for their mussels dinner special.

17- TH- PA- Jim and Joann came over for dinner and we went to the new restraint in town, Andiaro's Restaurant, the new, high end, gourmet place and we ate like pigs. Even the waiter told us that we were ordering too much food.

18- F- PA- I made my way to Philly for the 3rd annual Women's March.  I booked a hotel right on Ben Franklin Parkway with the intent of being right int he middle of the event.  However, the governor called for a state of emergency last night in anticipation of a large snow storm.  So, there is a thought that the event may be rescheduled.

19- SA- PA- the Women's March was held but the crowd was a bit of a bust.  I think people were afraid of getting stuck in town with the pending snow storm but so far, no snow.

20- SU- NJ- spent the day at breweries.  First we went to Flying Fish and then we made our way to Devil's Creek Brewery.  It was fun to hang with people who like to sit and drink beer all afternoon.


21- M- PA- damn it is cold today.  It's too cold to go outside so I sat in the lounge and watch the crew play pool.

22- TU- FL- I leave for Florida to visit with Jay and Dom in Cape Coral. It's cold, gray and miserable today.  I am happy to be heading south for a few days. We had dinner with Dawn and Leon.

23-W- FL- It's 81F, sunny and breezy.  I'm with good friends and life is good.  We went to the manatee park today and saw plenty of manatee floating around.

Edison's lab
24- TH- FL- its rainy but who cares!  It's 80F and lovely and warm. In the late afternoon, we went to Wicked Distillery for a rum tasting. I can not drink hard liquor but i do like coconut rum.  Afterward, we went to a great seafood restaurant and I got a steak.

25- F- FL- we went to visit the homes of Thomas Edison and Henry Ford, two men who changed the world. Jessica Pierson come over for dinner and we just had a fun time.

Valley Forge Park
26- SA- FL/PA- I headed home mid-morning and spent the rest of my day hanging at my apartment.

27- SU- PA- I went to Philly to go to the movies with Sharon.  We saw Carfnaum, a sad story about an undocumented kid living in poverty in Beruit.  No one refugees risk everything to come here.

28- M- PA- I went to my first Democrats meeting today and it was a bit of a disaster.  A man put me on the spot to challenge the club.  It was awkward.

29- TU- PA- it's raining and it is supposed to be snowing.  I could go for a big ass snow storm to day. I went to Gabe's Department store and bought two more denim jackets.  That makes four for the month.  This has to stop.

30- W- PA- I went to the movies to see Mary Poppins.  I saw the original in 1064 and loved every minute of it.  I wonder if this rendition will stand the test of time.  It was wonderful but it didn't wow me as the original did.  Later, I came back to my apartment and played bingo.  I felt like an old lady as this is old lady sport.

31- The PA/DE-  It's 1F today and the whole country is in a panic about the polar vortex.  I'm afraid to go outside but I have to brave the elements and head to Wilmington to meet up with the Shapiras and go to Haiti in the morning.

My new protest tee shirt

on No comments:
Labels: , , , , , ,

Monday, August 12, 2019

Deserts


Deserts of the World
And Me
I love to be in a desert.  I feel inferior here but that doesn't matter because there is just so much beauty in the simplicity of the desert.


  • Gobi- Mongolia-  We sat at the dunes of this desert at sunset and for the first time in my lifetime, I experienced absolute silence.

  • Sahara- Morocco- OMG, it was 120F and I thought I was going to die.  I took a camel out to a campsite about 2 hours north and I regretted every minute of this venture.  Finally, we got to our site and it was still hot.  We slept under the stars.  A bug bit my toe.  It started to rain and the raindrops were a welcomed relief.

  • Painted Desert- AZ- I went here with my nephew and he wanted to go for  a run.  He was only 14.  I told he to go ahead but he had to stay in my view so that he wouldn't get lost.  I told him that his mother would kick my ass if I came home without him.  He took off and in two minutes, I couldn't see him anywhere.  I held my breathe until he came back in my view a few minutes later.

  • Namibia- we watched the sun come up on Dune 45.  It was magical.  I attempted to climb the dune but I had vertigo so I came down to the base and just sat there.  And I felt my mother's presence here.

  • Death Valley- NV- it was February and still hot as hell.  Because I was there in the off season, no one was around when I was there.  I parked my car on the side of the road and just hung there, looking at the beautiful red rock formations.

  • Jordanian Desert- Israel- we took a jeep through the desert and just looked at the rocks. I loved it.

  • Antarctica- I know I don't really need to say that it was really, really, really cold here but it was. It was hard to wrap my head around the fact that this continent is a desert.
on No comments:

Sunday, August 11, 2019

A Ticket to Ride


A Ticket to Ride
Planes, Trains and Automobiles
Riding Through Life on Multiple Modes of Transportation

1- bus trips between State College and Philly- 1975-1977- I took the Greyhound bus from from college on numerous occasions.  The bus was always filled to capacity and too, too much luggage.

2- bus trips between Williamsport and Philly- 1981-1984- I didn't have a car when I worked in Williamsport so I had to continue with my poor person transportation mode and take the Greyhound with all the other poor people.

3- City Bus- Williamsport, PA- 1981- 1984-  So few people took the city bus which was clean, timely and reasonable.  And I think I was the only person who paid full fare as I was not on public assistance nor was I disabled, nor was my license suspended for any reason.

4- a train trip across the country- Feb 2015- I picked up a train in Baltimore on Sunday and I got to San Francisco by Wednesday.  I loved it.  Sam Stein joined me in Iowa.  We brought food with us and we spent the days in the Observation Car, talking to everyone but the Amish who chose to ignore us.

5- a train trip across Alaska- June 2007- I went with Sharon, Glenn and his father. We had long rides which wandered through mountains and fields and trees.

6- The Bullet Train- Japan- 1994- We were only on this train for a few hours. But was fast, fucking fast and a little intimidating.

7- An overnight train ride from Poland to the Czech Republic- Fall, 2007- I was sharing an overnight car with my brother.  When we saw we only had a lower bunk and an upper bunk, we both held back on offering which bunk we would take.  we both wanted the lower bunk.  I won and he climbed up.  Half was through the night, we passed a border and we abruptly awaken by the border patrol.  I was stunned by the abruptness of the man who charged in our room and demanded our passports.I was befuddled by my haze of just waking up. He hurried me which annoyed me.  But just as fast as he entered the cabin, he left.

8- An overnight train ride in China- Spring 2012- I was teaching in China and asked two students to take me to see the Terra Cotta Warriors.  We had to take a two hour taxi to the closet city and then an overnight train to the Warriors.  We couldn't get a cabin for all three of us.  So Olivia had to share a cabin with a family in another car.  That made me nervous.  And Selia and I shared our cabin with a family of three. We had two bunks and they had two bunks.  It was crowded and smelly.  I didn't sleep well and my eyes burned from fatigue when we eventually left the train.  We were scheduled to take the train home tonight as well and i was dreading the return ride.

9- A fast train in China- Spring 2012- We were returning from our visit to see the Terra Cotta Warriors and dreaded the thought of taking another overnight train to our university campus in central China.  We were tired and just wanted to get home.  My student looked on the Internet and found that there was a five hour fast train to our destination.  It was only $50 which I thought was reasonable but my Chinese students hadn't recommended it before because they thought this was an outrageous price.  I paid the bill and jumped on the train and spent soundly for the entire ride.  We were home before it was dark.

10- The Greyhound bus from Philly to Tucson, AZ- summer 1979- It took three long, stinky, hot, crowded days.

11- The Bryn Mawr Local- stopping at Overbrook, Merion, Narberth, Wynnewood, Ardmore, Haverfrod and Bryn Mawr (Old Maids Never Marry and Have Babies).  I took this train in to Philly from Overbrook for years.

12- The Shopper Special Bus- For a few years, I took this bus every Saturday morning and went into downtown Philly with my sister where she went to a voice lesson.  I think the fare was a quarter.  It picked us up right at our corner and dropped us off in from of the Union League on Broad and Chestnut.  There were always some Hara Khrisna kooks there who frightened me a little.

13- A Small Plane Across the Arctic Circle- June 2007- we left the airport around 10PM and it was still light outside.  There were maybe 8 of us aboard.  My brother-in-law noticed that the fuel gauge indicated that we were very low on fuel.  When he mentioned it tot he pilot, we were all told not to worry as he had a spare fuel tank.  I was nervous until we landed.

14- A Small Plane Ride Across the Okavango Plains- Botswana- Summer 2000-here were three passengers and we were anxious to see animals.  Our diver made it a point to fly over pools of water. "When you live out here, you get excited to see water." t

15- A Small Helicopter Ride Across the Arctic Tundra- Canada- November 2018- I finally, finally took an expensive trip of a lifetime and went to Churchville, Canada to see the polar bears.  Unfortunately, the polar bears had already migrated for the season.  There wasn't a bear to be seen fro 40 miles.  So we took helicopter rides over the Hudson Bay in hopes of

16- A Helicopter Ride Around Pigeon Forge, TN- summer 1997- it was my first helicopter ride and I thought I was going to fall out and throw up.

17- Bus Ride to the March for Our Lives in Washington, DC- March 2018- There had just been yet another mass shooting in a high school in Parkland, FL.  Unlike other shootings, these survivors stood up and called us all out for n=being so passive about these shootings.  So the whole continuity defended on DC in a massive protest.  I took a bus with a group of pre-school educators in Philadelphia.

18- Bus Ride to the Women's March in Washington, DC- January 2017- OMG, the energy was pliable. The realities of the Presidential election were too heavy to bear and this protest was going to be a release so many of us needed.  It was 6 AM and we were all up and ready to protest with all our hearts.  I loved it.

19- The Metro Bus to Boston- Fall 2012- I hopped the bus and made my way to the Sam Adams brewery. I went to the brewery for three days straight and then I hopped back on the bus and went back to Philly. They were too polite and caring for my jaded personality.

20- My 2004 blue Honda Element- I got 243,000+ miles from this car. I bought it in 2008 with 45,000 miles on it and paid $15,000. Then I sold it in 2017 for $1200.

on No comments:
Labels: , , , , ,

Friday, August 9, 2019

Eating Like A Pig!

FACEBOOK POSTING

Eating Like A Pig
Philadelphia, PA
May 14, 2018

Cheese steak, scrapple, pork roll, bacon, fried egg and cheese. AKA- the deathwish.
Anjani Manandhar, Dipu Maharjan and 58 others
23 Comments
Comments
Write a comment...

on No comments:
Labels: , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)